This invention relates to an apparatus for a disc type medium and a disc cartridge apparatus, and more particularly, to a technique which is successful for application to an optical disc drive and an optical disc cartridge which are to be used with a disc type recording medium set in a cartridge and the like.
As a measure for improvement of office management efficiency, it is known to use an apparatus for a disc type medium such as an optical disc drive in which data such as documents and images can be stored in a mass storage disc type recording medium and retrieved at high speed.
In the optical disc drive, an optical disc which serves as the recording medium is encased in a protective container such as a cartridge, and recording/reproducing of information is performed with the optical disc encased in the cartridge so as to protect the optical disc from dust contained in the working environment as well as to make the same serviceable in handling. Examples of techniques for loading the cartridge having an optical disc encased therein into the optical disc drive have been known as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 58-203682 and Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 61-90052. According to the former conventional technique, a clamp member is disposed to face a disc driving unit so as to cooperate with this disc driving unit to hold therebetween the disc at the position where information is recorded on and reproduced from the disc, thereby setting the disc accurately with respect to the disc driving unit. According to the latter conventional technique, an automatic cassette loading apparatus is disclosed by which loading of a cassette is performed automatically by a mechanism which contains a gearing.